The present invention is generally related to a method and apparatus for monitoring and logging the characteristics of the power line conductor current flow, conductor temperature data, conductor strain data, and conductor potential data under a normal or a faulted circuit condition of the power line and providing a visual enunciation of the condition where parameters are outside programmed limits.
Systems have been developed to indicate a power line conductor under a faulted circuit condition, and to report the characteristic to a receiver using radio transmissions.
One problem with such systems is that they can only indicate if a specific maximum single level “trip” current was exceeded. They cannot report any specific faulted circuit current levels or preset steps. Present devices cannot record and store the date and time information of the fault within the faulted circuit indicator.
Present systems have no provision to collect conductor temperature, conductor strain, or conductor line potential. Present systems cannot be field programmed for a specific inrush delay curve in the field or remotely from an exciter.
A further limitation is the time the present systems report the data. In a typical application, the data are transmitted for 4, 8, or 24 hours then they automatically reset and information is lost. The reset limitation is also due to limited battery life in the device and a requirement that low maintenance of the device on the power line is required typically 5 years or longer.